Wings
by Tuulikki
Summary: The day is hot, awfully hot, but there are those who won't be slowed down.


...it's all because the weather's too hot. It's making my brain melt. This is just something silly and a bit cheesy and, well, I don't know. I blame the heat.

Part I and part II are totally different, both here in this first (and only) chapter cause I'm too lazy to upload them separately.

Disclaimer: don't own Hikaru no go.

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><p><strong>Wings<strong>

**I**

The midsummer sun shines high on the sky, unclouded and merciless. A teenage boy is sitting on a bench, half in the shadow, half in the sun, eyes a narrow slit as he listlessly watches the park that baths in sunshine. Normally such a straight figure is now slightly slumped, the highest button of his shirt undone**.**

He leans back, watches the other people in the park, and though he is a little amused at how exhausted everyone looks like, he is also quite aware that he is just like them. Just one of the busy little flies which, defeated by the heat, have ceased their buzzing, dropped down, and lie now here and there on the ground, trying to gather their strength.

A little drop of sweat runs down his nose, but he sits unmoving, too languid to raise his hand to wipe it away before it reaches his lip. For a short moment he can taste the hot summer day in its saltiness. He thinks about getting up and leaving, going home, to his cool, air-conditioned room, but it is as if all strength has left his muscles and he simply can't get up.

Such an exhausting day.

"Look, mommy, look!" a happy shout comes from somewhere. A little girl is running across the park, something in her hands. She laughs and comes to a stop by a middle-aged woman who's sitting on the grass, wearing a small summer dress and a huge hat - a dress that is simply too small for her, and a hat that on any other day could only be described as tasteless... but maybe on a day like this, both points can be forgiven.

The woman picks up something from the girls hands. Even though he's sitting quite far from them, he can see the yellow flower, and suddenly he's not in the park anymore, but in the backyard of his grandparents, somewhere far away from the great city of Tokyo.

_Mommy, what's in my mouth, what?_

_Well, what could it be? Let me see. _

_Mother bends down, smiling. From the little pink tongue she picks up a yellow buttercup._

_Oh, don't eat these, dear. They don't even taste good, do they?_

_He's already running away, laughing in the bright summer sun._

He can remember it. He can _almost_ remember it. The bitter taste of the flower, burning on his tongue.

The girl runs, the woman wipes her face. Her shoulders fall, and all the way to his bench he can feel her tired sigh.

And when the girl runs, laughing, jumping around among the struck-down flies, he thinks he can see delicate butterfly wings on her back, shining in the sun. As the woman slowly drags herself up and they leave, he watches after them underneath his eyelashes, and he can't help wondering where and when he lost his wings. The ones that keep you flying even in the summer heat.

**II**

"Touya! It _is_ you! Hey, what are you doing here?"

Opening his eyes with a start (when had he closed them in the first place? He hadn't even noticed) he finds himself staring at a wide grin, as familiar these days as his own mirror image.

"Shindou... why are you here?"

"I asked you first," Shindou states, and he blinks, trying to make his exhausted mind work again.

"I... had a teaching game close by." He straightens his back, stretches a little. "You?"

"Just walking around," Shindou answers with a shrug. "I don't have anything to do today, no games or anything, and all my friends are busy... so I thought I'd take the train to some part of the city where I've never been before and explore a little."

"Oh?" He resists an urge to snort. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" Shindou's face is a quite blank, so he elaborates, "With your sense of direction, you're bound to get lost."

"So what?" There's the grin again. "I can always ask directions, and once I find back to the station, I'll find home. Say," Shindou goes on before he can say anything, "want to go somewhere to play a game?"

"I guess..." A cool go salon - he wouldn't even consider one without a proper air-conditioning - sounds even more tempting than usual.

"You 'guess'? That's all?" Shindou gives him an estimating look as he scrambles up from the bench. "Are you okay? You look a bit... worn."

"A tiring day." At first, he's going to leave it at that, but then, to his surprise, he finds himself going on. "Generally speaking, I _like_ teaching go. It can be really fun, and rewarding. But imagine having to teach mommy's and daddy's little angel who is a genius and can do no wrong and throws a fit if you try to correct him - why do they hire someone to teach him, anyway, if he's already perfect? I sure know not to accept any jobs from them ever again," he mutters, and Shindou grins.

"Got to be an awful brat, if he got even you whining."

"I'm not...!"

"Hey, maybe we could do something else for once," Shindou goes on, ignoring his protest. "Taking you to some stuffy go salon probably won't do any good. We should do something more...refreshing."

_There's nothing more refreshing than a good game of go,_ he wants to protest, but Shindou's babbling on. "Like... we could go to swim! Though first we should get home for our swim trunks, that takes time... maybe it's better just to go to get cold drinks and... or, hey, do you like ice cream? Nothing works better than ice cream on a day like this. Or then, hey, now I know! Come!"

Shindou grabs his arm and drags him on, half running.

"Where are we going to?" he tries to ask, panting. "And can't we walk? Why do you always have run everywhere?" He really doesn't want to be running in this heat. Shindou doesn't seem to even notice, though - he can see that the other boy's back is completely wet of sweat, his shirt glued to his skin, but it doesn't slow him down at all. Unaffected by the heat, as unyielding and smiling as the sun on the sky Shindou pushes on, and he has no choice but to follow.

They've reached the other side of the park, and finally Shindou comes to a stop, still holding his arm. The eternal grin is plastered on his face when he turns to Touya.

"So? What do you think?"

"Think about what?" The running has made him even more tired and sweaty and a little bit grumpy, too, and he isn't in the mood for riddles. Because certainly Shindou can't mean...

"Use your eyes, man!" Shindou finally lets go of him and points forward, and he realizes that the boy most likely _does_ mean the sprinklers that were on in this part of the park, watering the plantings and the grass.

"You can't..." he starts to say, but with a loud "woohoo!" Shindou is already running into the water.

He shakes his head. "You're crazy. This is why you dragged me all the way here?"

Shindou is laughing, twirling and jumping around in the sprinkler rain. "You should try this! Come on now, Touya! You're not going to melt, are you?"

He stands firmly where he is, attempts to look reproaching, and in the end Shindou stops too, though he still stays within the reach of the sprinklers' water.

"What's the matter? Hey, sure you remember how nice a cool shower like this is on a hot day? It's not gonna kill you, you know."

"Remember? I certainly have no memories of doing silly things like that." Though he does remember walking by such sprinklers, years ago, and watching the water longingly... but he isn't going to say that aloud.

"What?" He can't quite tell if the shocked look on Shindou's face is mock or real. "You've never done this before? But don't worry, there's still time to fix that!"

"I can't believe you," he mutters, shaking his head again, feeling vaguely embarrassed. "People are beginning to _stare_, Shindou, why can't you ever behave your age..."

"I?" Shindou looks at him, head tilted. His shirt is turning completely wet, and little droplets fall down from those ridiculously bleached bangs of his. "_I_ do behave my age. You're the one who's fifteen going on sixty. C'mon!"

And without a warning Shindou grabs his hand, gives a pull, and then, suddenly, the water's splashing against his chest, and he almost, _almost_ pulls his hand free and jumps back to the dry ground, but the water is so wonderfully cool, and Shindou's grin so sunny and disarming, and instead of an angry retort he finds himself laughing.

"Look, mommy!" he hears a familiar sounding voice. "I wanna go too!"

He turns to look and sees the same little girl he'd watched earlier hastily being stopped by her mother as she starts running toward the sprinklers. "But it looks fun!" he hears her object as her mother guides her away. He can't hear what the mother says, but the look she gives them is clearly quite disapproving.

"Poor girl!" Shindou says, laughing. "Well, when she's a bit older, she can come here without her mommy. That's the best thing about growing up, you know? Being able to do stuff like this without people yelling at you."

"I'm not so sure about that... some people might come to yell at us. Gardeners... or maybe the police..."

Shindou laughs even harder. "They're not going to arrest us for something like this!"

He laughs too and shakes his head, sending little water drops flying around from his hair. He's feeling strangely light-headed - sunstroke? Shindou-stroke? Whatever - and in truth, doesn't really care whether someone is going to yell at them or not. "How about that game?" he asks with a grin. "We could play blind go. And have some ice cream, too - it's been ages since I bought some."

"It's a deal!" Shindou laughs and runs off among the sprinklers, flailing with his arms as he goes, and Touya runs after him.

Maybe he hadn't lost his wings yet, just misplaced them for a moment.

END

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><p>(The thing about the buttercup comes from my childhood, btw. Must have been yummy.)<p> 


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